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WeThePeople Supreme hubs flip the BMX cassette driver inside out

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WeThePeople_Supreme-Cassette-Hub_silver-cutaway

The new Supreme cassette hub from WeThePeople is a bit of an interesting innovation with its new freehub design that inverts the cassette driver internals to overcome some typical hub limitations and add more flexibility. By putting the pawls inside the hub (instead of on the cassette body), and in a symmetric configuration that can be flipped around, you can reconfigure it for a lefthand drive setup with no other part swaps.

WeThePeople_Supreme-Cassette-Hub_removable-swapable-pawls

By putting the pawls in the larger diameter hubshell, WeThePeople say they had room to double the number pawls to 6. That makes engagement stronger and more secure, plus it cuts stress on the pawls and return springs which will make the hubs last a lot longer. It also makes it easier to switch out the more simple driver body, which in turn means that it is easier and cheaper to swap in different size driver cogs.

WeThePeople_Supreme-Cassette-Hub_righthand-left-hand-drive

The symmetrical layout of the pawls also means that it is easy to switch them around in the other direction to make the hub freewheel backwards for a lefthand drive setup, suing the same driver cog. All you need to do is pop out the 6 pawls and their springs, and stick them back into the hub pointing the other way. And voila, lefthand drive. Since the ratchet on the cassette driver uses a square tooth design, you just slide it back on and roll away in the opposite direction.

WeThePeople_Supreme-Cassette-Hub_driver

The driver itself uses a wide German-made IGUS bushing instead of a bearing, which WeThePeople claims delivers comparable resistance and more durability than many other solutions, while letting them stick with a large 17mm axle all the way for exceptional strength, especially when paired with pegs. While the cog slides on a bushing the hub itself spins on 3 bearings, with 2 on the non-driveside, for better longevity and smoother rolling over time and abuse.

WeThePeople_Supreme-Cassette-Hub_12mm-bolts WeThePeople_Supreme-Hub_hubset

In addition to boosting strength with the large diameter axle, it now gets counterintuitively smaller 12mm bolts that should add even more strength to the hub/peg connection. That is because combining the 12mm bolt (with the standard 14mm bolt shoulders for the dropout) in the 17mm axle there is actually more material to thread into yielding a more durable connection.

The new 391g Supreme cassette hub and its matching 262g Supreme front hub are both available now from your local shop or WeThePeople dealer, with the rear hub retailing for $180/230€. The both are available in either black ano or polished silver finishes

WeThePeopleBMX.de

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Chip
7 years ago

Very cool design.

Groghunter
Groghunter
7 years ago

makes a lot of sense for the specifics of BMX. Who cares if there’s a little more drag at the freehub? I wonder if they’ll make a 135mm version for my DJ.

Sam
Sam
7 years ago
Reply to  Groghunter

Probably not, WTP hasn’t ever made hubs wider than 110mm. But you probably don’t need left hand drive on your dj unless you are running pegs anyway.

OneLegDuck
OneLegDuck
7 years ago

KT Hubs most likely does this for them. They hold the patent on this I think. However I could easily be wrong on this.

Graham Rothermel
7 years ago

3 pawls one direction, 3 pawls the other for 20″ FGFS!

steve
steve
7 years ago

Easton also has a Road hub called ECHO with a similar design

Tyler
Tyler
7 years ago

My old Eastern rear hub was just like this, minus the bushings in the driver. I could swap out the pawls at will to make it LSD or RSD or even fixed gear if I wanted to destroy the pawls. So this is “new” technology?

captain derp
captain derp
7 years ago

i think atomlab had a hub with this configuration at one point as well. not sure if its still available.

wtfwtp
wtfwtp
7 years ago

this is not an innovation. the q-lite system has been around for forever and WTP has had hubs like that for years. Then they made the switch to this symmetrical layout which meant they have to use square teeth on the driver. That meant cutting engagement points in half plus worse engagement over all. The pawls wouldnt properly engage and wear out the driver pretty bad which is why I think they dropped the system until now. Then another thing is that this pawl layout puts a lot of stress into the hub shell when single pawls are not fully engaged so a lot of the older q-lites had cracked open. To make things worse using bushings means having more play between driver and axle compared to bearings with proper tolerances so the ratchet ring is always a bit off center to the pawls leading to uneven engagement, wear and unnecessary stresses. I like the speed notches in the bolt heads though
sorry for the rant about the hub, your posts are always a good read

Illusion
Illusion
6 years ago

I think all what is posted above is nothing but american propaganda bullsh*t to market their products and they are good at it, what WTP did here is pure thinking, it’s very well made, I would rather buy a new driver than a new hub like some low IQ people does these days.
I have a Salt hub, when I bought my WTP trust, it was old and the owner ate it, like really.
The driver was messed the pawls worn, skipping, cracking, all sort of noises, I almost thought there was no bearings, I had to modify it all the way I can, the axle was worn too, and I had to use a car suspension axle, with a bit of machining and the job was done, but the hub was still skipping, I added one more bearing, but i couldn’t find pawls cause they were worn and the spring was like, in fast I used a key holder spring, so i just rode it like that, skipping and grinding like something is getting done inside it, still, the hub didn’t crack, neither the teeth was gone, nor the pawls worn more or the driver cracked, running just fine except for the skipping and I have been jumping around and driving is for months. And now I am getting a freewheel, cause it’s easily changeable and the 11t gear ratio is good, still BMX sucks, I dropped it for Trials, because I want to get the inspired Arcade, it’s better and bigger and easy to go around the city with, good luck people.

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